Circular knitting machine provided with pattern means



March 6, 1945 H. DIEM 2,370,619

I CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE PROVIDED WITH PATTERN MEANS Filed July 10, 1943 Patented Mar. 6,1945 l GIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE-PROVE WITH PATTERN. S

Hans Diem, N euchatel, Switzerland; assignor 'to Edouard Dubi'ed & Cic.

Neucl atel, Switzerland ApplicationlJuly 10, 1943,.Serial,No..494,227

, In Germany July 6, 1942 50mins.

This invention relates to circular. machinesprovided withpatternmeans.

In known. circular knitting. machines provided with. pattern means, .for. the production .of patterned. ware with stitch transf'e'r,.,as well as of automatic. changingsover from 1:1 rib. to 2:2 rib, the drivers to. be selected. for the latterpurpose are moved into engagementwitha working cam part by efiecting. a vertical. and a simultaneous radial. movement, the cusp. of said part being situated above the pointot transition. over to said. part for the height of the driver. heel at least. .By this -means,-. direct changing-over from a needle to the next. oneis' intended to be obtained within the range of. theselective needle divisions.

With machines .of'small. diameter. that are provided with fine needle divisionsthe abovementioned arrangement. does not warrant .suflicient reliability of. operation for .the rea son that.

the time allowed for. connecting and. disconnect.- ing the working. cam part. concerned is too short. In consequence thereof ruptures.v of needle drivers and needles are liable to. arise. Apart from this, said arrangementrequirs vat. least.

two needle or driver. heel. guide grooves per lock plate as well as extralock part for depressing .the needle drivers into the cylinder grooves or the rib disc grooves. The simultaneous. vertical and radial movements of. the drivers associated:

to 2:2 rib, these drawbacks are eliminated in that at least two groups of needles orneedle drivers,

arranged ciroumferentially of the machine, and an equal number of. movable lock camparts. are

provided each. of which coopcratesonlywith.

one of the various needle groups-and is adapted to be adjusted while positioned beyond the range of its associated needle 'group. v a

Adva-ntageously, the surface of-the rib disc and/or that. of the cylindermfacing towards-the lock parts as well. as theshanksidesof the-nee- -dles ordriversfacingr towards said parts'are provided with at least one setback.. H

. An embodiment. of 1 the ".invention, representing a pattern device in combination with'a circular.

Socicte Anonyme,

knittingmachine adapted for' efiecting transfer of stitches, is illustrated lln partly. sohematical fashion, however, omit/.170 an. extent. required for a; good understandingoi: the.invention,. inthe accompanying drawing in which Fig. l. is asection through. the needle cylinder and the ribdialof a circular knitting machine;

Figs. 2.. and 2adepict a topplan view of Fig. l with the dial plate removedand with the rib dial lock exposediso as to showthe ribdisc in twodifierent-positions that are offset 180rela tively to .each other;

.Figs. 3 and-3a.. each represent ail-elevation of the. cylinder look as seen inthe .direction of arrow A in Fig. 1- with the cylinder shell removed and the cylinder shown tobe in two ,difierent positions ofis'et 180 relatively. to each other, and.

Fig. 4 is a View of. a. detail of Fig. 1 on a larger scale. r I

-The-numeral. 1 refers to the cylinder shell including. lock parts.2 to 5. contained in a first lock system-and lock partsiZf to 5" contained in a second. lock. system; whereas Bdesignates the dial plate-comprising.loclecam parts I to 9 contained in a first lock. system: and lock cam parts l-- to 9: contained in. a second lock system:

In: the needle =cylinders")associated needle drivers 42, Band [2,14 respectively are mounted and coupled to'needles H so as totbe selective bypattern bands 24 r .24 respectively, in-a I I3. and. I 4', that is, those driver heels not hav- 1 8' ,been pushed back by the pattem'band, get

, within. the embrace of the lock cam parts 2 .and

.2 respectively, thereby being raised, whereas the. other. drivers remain .below. The rising drivers shift the. needles H coupled therewith respectively, of difierentshank. construction. are I upward so that they can operate or transfer the stitch with which they are engaged to the oppositely disposed. needles, while the needles. not having been raised remainout of operation. The selecting. of the drivers [2,14, l3, that is, of the respective needles H by the pattern band is ef- .fected,.for. example, for the purpose of producing open patterned ware by transfer of stitches.

1 If, however, one and the same piece of ware is to be provided with .;knitting. produced by other methods,.for example, 111 .1. rib orthe like, that is, knitting without. transfer of. stitches and patterning onif by means. of transfer of. stitches automatic changeover from v1 lrib either.- to 2:2 rib or plain. is required, additional. needle selecting positionsmust he provided apart from the needle selecting positions provided by the pattern band for the patterned portion.

These additional selecting positions are obtained by further lock parts 4, and 4', 5' respectively as well as by needle and driver groups of different shank constructions. With a view to avoiding the necessity of providing further needle grooves or grooves for the driver heels and consequently reducing the height of the cylinder to a minimum the surfaces of the cylinder and of the drivers facing towards the lock parts are provided with one setback at least. These setbacks are designated by l5 and I6 for the cylinder and the drivers M respectively.

Thus, for example, for producing a change-over from 1:1 rib to 2:2 rib each third needle on one circumferential half of the cylinder is provided with a driver l3 and on the other half with a driver 14. In the present instance two driver groups I3 and M are provided apart fromthe normal drivers 12 and also two relatively oppositely disposed lock systems comprising lock parts 2 to 5 and 2' to 5' respectively.

If then in changing over from 1: 1 rib to 2:2 rib it is required to effect a stitch transfer with each third needle this is carried out as follows:

The lock parts 4 (Fig. 2) and 4 respectively are moved into position of operation whereby the entirety of driver heels is displaced into oblique position of inoperation, that is, beyond the embrace of the pattern band 24 (Fig. 1) and 24' respectively.

Further the lock parts 5 and 5' respectively are moved into position of operation in the direction ofarrow B in Fig. 1, namely, lock part 5, when this part is positioned opposite to the drivers l4, and lockpart 5', when this part is positioned opposite to the driversl3. By this means the drivers are not influenced while being in position out of operation, but are influenced just while the drivers l3 pass across the lock part 5 and the drivers l4 across the lock part 5'. The drivers I 3 and M are thus erected into position for operation, thatis, moved from the oblioue into verticalpositionand pushed upward by the lock cam portions 2 and 2' respectively for transferring the stitches carried thereby to the respective opposed needles without performing any float ng motion. The returningof the lock parts 5 or 5' respectively into ineffective position is carried out as these parts are juxtaposed to the drivers M or l3 by which means any floating motion of the drivers from their positions is avoided.

The device described above can be combined,

also with the rib dial lock 6.20 in that as shown in Figs. 2 and 20, by the movable lock parts 9 or 9' the needles I 8 or lfirespectively are selectively moved into engagement with the lock parts 1 or '1' in a manner similar to that in which the lock parts '5 and 5' cooperate with the drivers [3 and I4 respectively to the same effect. 7

For this purpose the dial plate 20 is provided with a setback 2| and the needles l9 each carry a setback 22. The needles I1, l8 and '19 can be moved according to a pattern into engagement with the lock parts 1 and 1' with the aid of a conventional pattern wheel 23 instead of by means of the lock parts Sand 9'.

The range of variability of patterning of the machine can be increased if the surface of the dial plate 20 or that of the cylinder 1 0 facing towards the lock parts as well as the" shank sides of the needles or of the drivers facing towards thelock parts are provided with several setbacks and a corresponding number of movable lock portions are used.

I claim:

1. In a circular knitting machine provided with pattern means, particularly for producing automatic changing-overfrom 1:1 rib to 2:2 rib, a

needle cylinder displaceably carrying circumfer-' lock portion is situated beyond the embrace of the correlated needle group.

2. In a circular knitting machine provided with pattern means, particularly for producing automatic changing-over from 1:1 rib to 2:2 rib, a needle cylinder displaceably carrying circumferentially thereof at least two groups'of needles in addition to the normal needles, shank like means associated with each of said additional needles for the latter to be driven through said means, the shanks of said means being differently configurated for each of said needle groups, movable lock portions provided in a number equal to the number of needle groups installed, each of said lock portions for cooperation with only one of said needle groups, and means for adjusting each of said movable lock portions while the respective lock portion is situated beyond the embrace of the correlated needle group.

3. In a circular knitting machine provided with pattern means, particularly for producing automatic changing-over from 1:1 rib to 2:2 rib, a rib dial displaceably carrying radially thereof two groups of needles in addition to the normal needles, shank like means associated with each of said additional needles for the latter to be driven through said means, the shanks of said means being differently configurated for each of said needle groups, two movable lock portions each for cooperation with onlyone of said needle groups, the surface portions of said rib dial as Well as those of said shanks facing towards said lock portions being provided with corresponding setbacks, and means for adjusting each of said movable lock portions while the respective lock portion is situated beyond" the embrace of the correlated needle group.

4. In a circular knitting machine provided with pattern means, particularly for producing automatic, changing-over from 1:1 rib to 2:2 rib, a rib dial displaceably carrying radially thereof at least two groups of needles in addition to the normal needles, shank like means associated with each of said additional needles for the latter to be driven throughsaid means, the shanks of said means'being differently configurated for each of said needle groups, movable lock portions provided in a number equal to the number of needle groups installed, each of said'lock portions for cooperation with only one of said needle groups, the surface portions of said rib dial as well as those of said shanks facing towards said lock portions being provided with corresponding setbacks, and means for adjusting each of said movable lock portions while the respective lock por- -tionis situated beyondthe embrace of the corrematic changing-over from 1:1 rib to 2:2 rib, a needle cylinder displaceably carrying circumferentially thereof at least two groups of needles in addition to the normal needles, a rib dial displaceably carrying radially thereof at least two 5 groups of needles in addition to the normal dial needles, shank like means associated with each of said additional needles for the latter to. be driven through said means, the shanks of said means being differently configurated for each pair 10 of cooperative needle groups, movable lock porcorrelated needle group.

'tions provided in said cylinder and in said rib movable lock portions while the respective lock portion is situated beyond the embrace of the HANS DIEM. 

